|
What would be a good response to that classic interview question about your negative traits? In my case "procrastination" would be honest, but I'm not sure how to phrase it so that an interviewer would view it in a positive light.
|
|
|
|
|
MarSCoZa wrote:
What would be a good response to that classic interview question about your negative traits?
Actually, while I've been known to shoot myself in the foot from time to time, I sure ain't gonna do it intentionally even if they are kind enough to hand me the pistol. I usually give an answer that is a positive trait from their perspective cloaked in a negative wrapper, such as, "Well, I'm a bit of a workaholic", "I probably focus too much on error handling", "I sometimes get more caught up in meeting the deadlines than in squeezing that extra three cycles of performance out of the code", etc.
Sounds like you're throwing out a negative trait in a candid manner (one of the things their looking for), but in reality you're just giving them one more reason to hire you by telling them what they want to hear.
A little devious? Absolutely! Interviews are a chess match. If they're going to play games, posture and position, you can bet that I'm going to do the same. I hate to lose. Especially when a paycheck is on the line...
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
The best way to go about this is to talk about a negative trait that you had. But now of course you have turned that negative trait around and have everything under control.
Last interview (last week) I was asked about negative traits or bad habits (whatever they asked me). My answer was "That in my last job it was pointed out to me that I had a bad habit. It was that I was trying to do everything for everyone. I had to learn to say no to people and priorotise my work. I overcame it and eventually was handling multiple customer/issues raised by multiple consultants within my company and getting the work completed."
Of course I never had a problem saying no, just not in a business like manner with the ability to put management layers on hold when required.
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace"
- Victor Stone
|
|
|
|
|
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Always phrase your "short-comings" as something that looks positive to the other person:
1) Mention something as a negative that actually is not. For example, "The main problem I have is that I fully throw myself into a project to the exclusion of all. I've had managers demand that I take a day off to prevent burn-out. The thing is that when I get rolling on a cool project, I'm all about the finish line." Obviously, this is thing that most manager want to hear!
2) Mention as a negative something that they don't want or care about. For example, if your applying for a position as a coder you might say "My only weakness is that I'm not a very good manager of other people. I'm really good at taking a project and working within a team to get the job done. However, I'm just not a person to boss others around. I expect that I'm working with professionals." This works great because you've just told the guy hiring you that you're not after his job and that you just want to be a part of the team.
Cheers,
Tom Archer
Author, Inside C#
|
|
|
|
|
I read all this thread and I am wondering if in the US when you tell your interviewer some bullshit, he believes you everytime.
I mean, I come from Italy, and here there are no interviews, resumes, etc, no books on how to pass an interview, etc.
It works another way.
"Nelle cose del mondo non e' il sapere ma il volere che puo'."
|
|
|
|
|
laphijia wrote:
It works another way.
hmmm.. .what way is that?
"When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it"
Nish on life [methinks]
|
|
|
|
|
Brian Delahunty wrote:
It works another way.
hmmm.. .what way is that?
Did you forget that mafia is an italian creation, it's sad for me to admit this, but if mafia comes from Italy this means that here the things are slightly different.
I write this because I studied in Italian School for years, and now I moved to Thailand and I will go to the american school.
And I found a lot of differences:
1- It's a private school.
When you go to a private school in Italy it's because you are lazy or stupid, and people that attend private school are generally seen badly.
But my new school it's private and they proudly say that not anyone can attend it, that they select the students, etc.
2- For being admitted I had to take some test. SAT or something like this.
Standardized tests, nationwide, multiple choice, etc.
So there seems to be some ANSI also in the school.
No, in Italy multiple choice tests don't exists, and sure not standardized.
You write something, an essay, and a teacher looks at it.
If that day she is nice you ar IN.
3- Maybe if your father knows somebody, that knows somebody, that knows somebody, that knows that teacher it's all more easy.
I don't know if you can understand what I mean, but I have the feeling that in the US all is standardized, so there can be books on how to pass an interview, etc etc.
And if you follows the rules for an interview, but you tell the interviewer some bullshit, you are OK.
I just add this.
If you want to get a VISA for US you give all the reasons, you fill some form, you take all the paper, and if everithing is ok you get the VISA, if something is missing, you don't get the VISA.
But somebody needs to get an Italian VISA, it's up to the EMBASSY to decide whether they can give it or not.
So if you have a work, the money in the bank, etc etc, but you for the empoyer in the embassy you look like somebody no-good, you don't get a VISA.
But if you have an italian friend that lived with you some time and he says to the embassy that you go with him on a vacation, you get the visa the next day, maybe without any money in your bank, nor a work in your homecountry.
After when you are in Italy, when your VISA expires you just wait till the next new law that says that all the people that are illegally in Italy from before..... 1,2,3 years ago, are given a Permit of Stay of 1 year, renewable.
And if this looks weird to you, if it looks that in Italy is impossible to live, etc etc.
For me, that new I am approaching the US system, it's just the same.
I hope that you undersand this.
|
|
|
|
|
You can always say that you have no negative traits that you are aware of. Obviously they might express some surpise at this answer but you can qualify it by saying that if you had any negative traits that you knew of, you'd do evertthing possible to correct them. Perhaps then offer them some examples of what negative traits you've had that you "fixed".
I find that sort of interview question really annoying to be honest. I mean, what sort of answer do they want? Isn't it really just some question that they ask, not really knowing what sort of answer they want? I think they should show the candidate more respect. They should be concentrating on what the candidate can actually do. because once the candidate is in the interview, he is only really there to verify what he's claimed in his CV, unless the interviewers are just interested in some sort of conveyor belt approach - just wheel 'em past and they'll pick one they like.
I like turning questions around to interviewers, asking them things like "how do you think my skill set will benefit your company", "how do you see someone like me progressing within your company".
------------------------
The folly of man is that he dreams of what he can never achieve rather than dream of what he can.
|
|
|
|
|
I need to relocate for my new job, I've been told that when I negotiate my salary I should ask for a relocation allowance. Could someone help me out with what I should ask for, in terms of pay-back and stuff like that?
|
|
|
|
|
Jacksonh wrote:
when I negotiate my salary I should ask for a relocation allowance.
Well, of course, negotiate is the key word here. Often relocation includes the cost of the moving company, gas expenses for driving, sometimes temporary housing while you find a new house to buy, occasionaly even per dium (food, gas, etc. daily expenses). There's not really any strategy - it just comes down to how good your bargaining skills are, and whether or not you're bargaining from a position of power. In general, though, with any kind of negotiation, if they say yes to your first offer, you could have got more. How hard you negotiate will ultimately come down to how strong you think your position is.
Hope this helps...
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
I'm getting into the speaking / seminar end of things, and I'm kicking around ideas for some additional sessions. The four that I'm teaching on an upcoming developers conference are all more closely related to the actual development process, and they cover requirements gathering, design, estimating and QA. No problem so far, the feedback I get tells me that programmers are interested in this sort of stuff. However, there are other things that I personally think are critical if you work in the business world and I'd like to do sessions on them as well. Before I invest any time trying to put them together, though, I could use some feedback as to whether programmers would actually be interested enough to make it worthwhile. Here's some of the things I'm thinking about -
Interviewing skills:
I've hired a lot of people over the years, and it's amazing the basic stuff that doesn't seem to be common knowledge among applicants. A lot of programmers think that their technical skills are all that matters, but in fact, it's only one small part of getting the gig. I'm thinking that this type of session would probably more important to mercenaries who change jobs a lot than to someone who gets a gig and keeps it for 5 years, but I could be wrong.
Coping with company politics:
Programmers don't want to do anything but code, really. However, most of the times we get screwed (somebody else got the sexy project, the raise, the office with a door, Bad Things happened to your project, etc.) it's because somebody else played the politics game well, and we didn't (or worse still, didn't even want to try).
Creating your own projects:
This would more accurately be "learning how to sell your ideas to management", but put the word "sell" in a title and watch the programmers run for the door. Nonetheless, I've extended a lot of contracts at cool companies because I pitched them on a project I wanted to develop, and they went for it.
These are a few of what I have in mind. There's more along these lines. I know, I know, it ain't techie and sexy like "Learn ASP.NET in 24 Minutes!" but there's a lot of really top notch guys doing that sort of thing already. I know from years of personal experience that programmers' lives would be better if they had these skills, but do you think anyone would actually go to sessions like this? If you do, are there other such ideas that working class programmers would see a need for?
In the end, it doesn't matter how cool or useful a session is unless people will actually sign up for it. I don't want to burn up all my midnight oil on a project unless it has some chance of being useful. You guys are the real programmers out there making a living. I figure you're a good reality check...
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
Size of company is really going to drive the interest here.
In my case a good coverage of Coping with Company Politics definitely wins. So many hidden agendas exist. To be successful with Creating your own project you need to handle the politics. If you do not, even if you get started it is amazing how inventive people are in stoping good work. As far as interviewing skills at least in my area those that are found to never stay in one place very long (say 2 years max) are not even considered by the time they hit mid 30's.
Just my 2 cents.
Good ideas are not adopted automatically.
They must be driven into practice with courageous patients. -Admiral Rickover. ...
|
|
|
|
|
Michael A. Barnhart wrote:
Size of company is really going to drive the interest here.
Yeah, it's been my experience that the bigger the company, the heavier the insanity.
Michael A. Barnhart wrote:
As far as interviewing skills at least in my area those that are found to never stay in one place very long (say 2 years max) are not even considered by the time they hit mid 30's.
Er, you're making a 44 year old guy very nervous, you know...
Michael A. Barnhart wrote:
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks, man. Just the sort of feedback I was hoping for!
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
Christopher Duncan wrote:
Er, you're making a 44 year old guy very nervous, you know...
Only if you've had a bunch of jobs. Consultants / contract labor do not count in this comment, just those who were "employees".
Good ideas are not adopted automatically.
They must be driven into practice with courageous patients. -Admiral Rickover. ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christopher Duncan wrote:
If you do, are there other such ideas that working class programmers would see a need for?
Definitley, though a lot of programmers don't realise they need this kind of thing.
I think your ideas are great, you just have to sell (there is that dirty word again) them very well to programmers.
I tried a bit of this on The Lounge a month ago, talking about peoples careers vs. their jobs and how they were ensuring that they weren't "screwed over" and "left hanging in the wind" when the time comes. It got a good response that post, so a conference could be worthwhile.
Naturally location is a problem, we are all widely disperesed, but I am sure there are plenty of programmers like us all over the world for you to teach.
regards,
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa
"The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge
Sonork ID: 100.9903 Stormfront
|
|
|
|
|
Paul Watson wrote:
Naturally location is a problem, we are all widely disperesed, but I am sure there are plenty of programmers like us all over the world for you to teach.
Yeah, but with luck, maybe someday I'll be successful enough to meet you all! Get to travel, see the world, and write it all off on my taxes? Sounds like a plan to me!
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
Christopher Duncan wrote:
Interviewing skills:
I've hired a lot of people over the years, and it's amazing the basic stuff that doesn't seem to be common knowledge among applicants. A lot of programmers think that their technical skills are all that matters, but in fact, it's only one small part of getting the gig. I'm thinking that this type of session would probably more important to mercenaries who change jobs a lot than to someone who gets a gig and keeps it for 5 years, but I could be wrong.
Christopher, I think you will find that you are wrong with that last sentence. As someone who has only worked for three companies over a 15 year period (12 programming) I only set up a resume and got into interview mode when I decided I had to change. 4.5 months ago I got retrenched and as you have already guessed I had no resume let alone had myself ready for interviews. I think this is a valid point you could put into your seminars. Always be prepared.
Your right about technical skills not being everything, but with the market the way it is at the moment they seem to be focusing on that more than I would have thought.
Christopher Duncan wrote:
Coping with company politics:
This is required though for some reason while knowing about I refuse to get into it. I still walk in swinging and smack down every idiot in sight and then suffer the consequences later. Maybe you could reprogram me. 
Michael Martin
Australia
mjm68@tpg.com.au
"Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace"
- Victor Stone
|
|
|
|
|
Michael Martin wrote:
Christopher, I think you will find that you are wrong with that last sentence. As someone who has only worked for three companies over a 15 year period (12 programming) I only set up a resume and got into interview mode when I decided I had to change. 4.5 months ago I got retrenched and as you have already guessed I had no resume let alone had myself ready for interviews. I think this is a valid point you could put into your seminars. Always be prepared.
Hadn't thought of it that way.
Michael Martin wrote:
I still walk in swinging and smack down every idiot in sight and then suffer the consequences later.
Well, what I do and what I feel like doing are often in conflict. I've often fantasized about keeping a baseball bat just to the right of my desk...
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
Put them all together in a seminar called
How to Pick up Chicks for Programmers
and you should have a full house.
Interesting topics though - real world skills outside of coding - who would have thought we needed those?
Dave Huff
There are no small projects - only young ones.
|
|
|
|
|
Dave Huff wrote:
How to Pick up Chicks for Programmers
Dave, if you find someone to teach that seminar, you'll have to elbow me for a front row seat!
Dave Huff wrote:
Interesting topics though - real world skills outside of coding - who would have thought we needed those?
Yeah, that's what I've come to find. When I first started doing this I thought I could just go to work, crank the tunes and kick out some code. It was a real shock when I realized how much corporate b******t I had to put up with in the course of any given day. One of the things I put in the chapter on estimating is that the average 8 hour day only sees 5 to 6 hours of actual coding. In some environments, I'd be delighted if I got even that much time. That's when I decided to start fighting back. I may win, I may lose (I usually win), but I'll go down swinging!
Chistopher Duncan
Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
|
|
|
|
|
>Coping with company politics:
Yes, I'd like to know how to detect it, react to it, understand it, maybe even play it - this is the one area of work that is guaranteed to spoil life at work every now and then.
Ev
|
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
![Jig | [Dance]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/jig.gif)
